This was an expensive disappointment. Some of this was our own fault, some was due to the tour provider, and some was just Mother Nature and bad luck. Here’s how it went down: we were picked up in a bank parking lot and then driven about an hour to another parking lot, where more people joined our party. Tony, who drove the bus, was engaging, regaling us with stories from the nearly 40 years he’s lived on the island. From the second parking lot, it was another long drive up saddle road to the base of the Mauna Kea road. From there, we split into two 4x4s of eight people and drove to the Mauna Kea visitor center. All of the other tour groups were eating warm cooked meals. Our group got no food, but we did get 30 minutes to wander around the visitors center. Then we hopped back into the 4x4s and went up the mountain. Along the way our driver (Hunter) told us a few things about the mountain, but it felt very scripted. It turns out that even though this is labeled as going to the summit, you don’t go to the summit. Instead all the tour buses from all the tour companies park by the telescopes, which is not the actual top (this is out of respect for Hawaiian beliefs, which makes sense but still felt like the tour name was false advertising). We were given warm jackets to wear And gloves. Then they took our pictures one by one as we held a sign that said „Mauna Kea summit” (even though we were not at the summit). Here’s where the bad luck comes in. As Soon as we got up there, the whole area was enveloped in clouds. So we had no views of the surrounding area or even of a sunset. Just some Orange clouds. Then we all trooped back in the van and drove down below the clouds for the “stargazing” part of the trip. All of the tour buses park in a parking lot near the visitor center. We had to wait in the van while our hosts set up some snacks (dessert foods like biscotti) and “cup of noodles” for us to eat. Even though We’d been asked to fill out our dietary preferences when we registered, there were no vegetarian cups of noodles. Fortunately we had granola bars In or packs; others in our group went hungry. We milled Around for awhile while our guides set up the telescope. The moon was extremely bright, so couldn’t see many stars. Each person got to look through the telescope twice, for about 45 seconds in total. First we saw the moon, and then we saw Saturn. Our guides told us that Jupiter wasn’t visible even As we could overhear the group next to ours looking through their telescope at Jupiter. The guides pointed out a few constraints with a laser pointer. That was about 15 minutes. And we each got our picture taken twice with a DSLR. Then we milled about bored some more until we were herded back on the van and drove down. On the way down, one of the vans ran over a wild pig. Finally we got back to Tony and listened to his stories on the long, long ride back to our car. My advice: choose your tour company wisely, pick a night where the moon isn’t shining, and understand that this tour is going to be a gamble.